


Always Been Here

by justanerde



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Homophobia, Homosexuality, Love, M/M, Romance, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-29
Updated: 2015-05-29
Packaged: 2018-04-01 19:03:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4031152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justanerde/pseuds/justanerde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was something about the man that sat on the bench every day. Was it his punctuality? His ever-being presence? He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, there was just… something. And Cas was determined to find what it was. He hadn’t yet faced a puzzle he couldn’t solve, and if this man was anything, it was a puzzle.<br/>---<br/>Cas has a routine, and one day a mysterious, green eyed man sitting on a bench interrupts that routine. He feels like he knows him, but also like he doesn't, and that REALLY confuses him. So he eventually talks to him and a romance blossoms that feels like it was always there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Always Been Here

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic to be published on this site (which rocks, I haven't yet read a bad fanfic) and I'm really excited about it. I hope you enjoy!

There was something about the man that sat on the bench every day. Was it his punctuality? His ever-being presence? He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, there was just… something. And Cas was determined to find what it was. He hadn’t yet faced a puzzle he couldn’t solve, and if this man was anything, it was a puzzle.  
The first time he saw him was on a chilly autumn day. He was sitting on a bench (the same bench Cas would eventually begin to refer to as the bench.) and sipping a cup of coffee. As soon as he saw him, his heart just exploded with feeling. He had never met this man, and yet it seemed like he had known him a million years. This feeling was new to him, and hence made him walk on without so much as a second glance; okay, huge lie. He glanced multiple times at him, but the man didn’t seem to know him. In fact, he seemed very lost.  
Cas felt like he had to help him find whatever he was searching for. 

 

The second time was the very next day. Cas had been going to the same coffee shop around the same time every day for nearly a year, and yet had never seen him. Where did he come from? Everything about this man; from his bright green eyes (not unlike the crisp color of fresh grass), and light brown hair, and smattering of freckles; made him want to know his life story. Why did he look so lost? Why did he seem so confused? And why, oh why, did he just sit on that bench?

Cas soon fell into a variation of his original routine. Before, he would buy his coffee, mingle and loiter for as long as his awkwardness allowed (the park area by his coffee shop was just so beautiful), and then return to his house. He worked at home, but more of that later (because this is my story, and you have to wait until the other man comes into the picture to know what exactly he does when he knows! Mwahahahahahaha). But now that the mysterious green eyed man was here, he loitered and mingled around a bit longer than normal and just observed, and every day tried to gain enough courage to walk over and say hello, or hi, or a why are you here every day, just something. And every day he failed.  
But then the dreadful day came when the man wasn’t on the bench when he arrived. Cas searched around, not even bothering to buy his coffee, and eventually left. It had been four months of touch and go, trying to figure out the man without actually speaking to him. Probably wasn’t the best way to go about learning of him, but Castiel had crippling social anxiety. Not because he was shy, or insecure. Dear god, he started talking about sex the other day at his mom’s house, and she was mortified (he just didn’t understand the concept of being embarrassed; it’s a natural process of life). But he had learned from previous experiences that natural curiosity often made others feel uncomfortable, and so he kept his distance. *insert sigh* Society.  
But he got over that, and for the next few weeks came and would sit on the bench, hoping and praying that the man hadn’t found what he was looking for yet and had retained his reason to return (horrible, he knew, but what could he say? He was only human). He sat and stared, hoping that the man could return and hopefully (just maybe) wouldn’t be weirded out when Cas asked what was wrong. The whole scenario played out in Castiel’s head, getting more outrageous and odd at every spare moment. They even got so far as Cas and him… I won’t go into unnecessary detail. Cas had never been like this before, and especially not with a (practically, anyway) stranger.

And after a few weeks of doing this, sitting on the bench and imagining amazing and astounding scenarios where someone actually considered Cas a friend, something amazing happened.  
He sat down right next to him.  
I’m sure you can all imagine what happened next: Cas and he were silent, and then Cas said something witty and funny and made the other man comfortable enough to where he could ask him what was troubling him, and they grew old together and got married and adopted three Asian children. Except that is not what happened. At. All.  
“I have noticed you.” Cas internally berated himself. What the hell was he saying? No use stopping now, so he continued. “You used to come here every day. You appeared so lost, and confused, and then you ceased coming for a while. I notice that you are back now.” He took a daring glance at him from his peripheral vision. The man had his head cocked to one side and was staring at him apprehensively. Cas sighed. “Look, I apologize, it just appeared that you possibly needed assistance-“  
The man shook his head. And then he smiled, and Cas swore up and down later that his heart skipped a beat. And then another. A beat for the smile he recognized and yet also did not, a beat for the eyes that fluttered shut at every blink, a beat for the freckles that he subconsciously started counting and seemed so familiar with and yet also seemed so new. Everything about this man fascinated him.  
“Do you hear that?” The man whispered quietly. Cas strained to hear something, and him not being able to hear whatever it was this guy heard must have been obvious, because the green-eyed man frowned. “I guess not. I’ll explain. The trees are singing.” Cas tilted his head. “How could they be singing? Trees do not possess a larynx-“ The other man shushed him. “The wind is moving the branches, and the leaves are gently falling to the ground, and all of it together makes a song. Just- here, let me show you.” And then he scooted closer to him, and everything about being in that close a proximity to him was so familiar and yet also so brand new and he had never been more confused in his life and yet he never wanted the moment to end.  
He grabbed Castiel’s jaw and moved it to look at the trees across the paved little road that separated the street of shops and the beautiful park. He had been staring at him, and allowed the man’s hand to move his face however he pleased. His hand on his stubbly chin felt amazing, but he couldn’t help wondering- what had brought this on? He had just met him. Unless- unless this man felt what he felt whenever he looked at him. That would be truly… awesome.  
“Can you hear it now?” He couldn’t at first, but then he started to sort of sense the nature around him in a way he never could before. And it was magnificent. His face must have lit up or shown some sign of wonder, because the man removed his hand from his face. The absence felt off, and gave Cas a strange kind of empty sadness. He felt as though he desperately needed this man to touch him again.  
“My name’s Dean. Dean Winchester.” Cas turned and smiled. His eyes crinkled at the corners and his neck sort of flushed in a low key blushy type of manner. “And my name is Castiel. Castiel Novak.”


End file.
